Arden Sachs has always want­ed a pet: a purring kit­ten, an adorable pup­py, or even a fuzzy guinea pig. But liv­ing in a cramped con­do with her mom and sib­lings means she’s unhap­pi­ly pet-free. Then her Uncle Eli asks Arden to look after Lud­wig, his African Grey par­rot. A lit­tle afraid of the bird, Arden reluc­tant­ly agrees to prove that she can han­dle pet own­er­ship.

But when Lud­wig goes beyond his usu­al sounds and imi­ta­tions to spout num­bers and words that seem way too com­plex for a par­rot, Arden won­ders if there’s more to this bird than meets the eye. As they get to know each oth­er, Arden real­izes Lud­wig is not only super smart, but he’s also fierce­ly loy­al, help­ing her with every­thing from her school pre­sen­ta­tion to her bul­ly prob­lems, and her pur­suit of a spot on the Sci­ence Bowl team. Lud­wig may not be the pet Arden want­ed, but he might turn out to be exact­ly the pet she needed.